Rebirth

She's finishing up with the perpetual motion generator, which had gotten delayed a bit by everything happening. She makes sure to credit Ichihara and Isori on the portions of their Thesis that helped with a vague explanation, with their delighted permission via email with ‘Tōkōkuro Mihana’ of course. She'd left her own name out of it not wanting to have her name on it twice if it ever came out that she was Tōkōkuro Mihana. Though that had required giving Ichihara and Isori vague explanations so they wouldn't question it and bring it up.

She'd always been focused on things like the thermonuclear fusion gravity control reactor, with the intention of distributing power from it, so she hadn't even thought of the fact that perpetual motion would be easier to use inland. Or the fact that while the reactor had a part to play in her overall plan for more than just power, that the perpetual motion generator would serve as a wonderful intermediary.

It's done now though, and in fairness part of it was that she was essentially at the part of her overall plan where she's gotten her part of all the preliminary things done and sent to Rowena, so she was just… waiting for Rowena's portion to finish up. Now that the perpetual motion generator was done as an addition to that, her attention can turn more firmly to the data from observing the magicians pregnant with what should themselves be magicians. Her paper had drummed up a lot of volunteers for the research on observing that… thing she'd noticed about developing magician fetuses after her paper had made it clear it was just observation, no experiments or anything like that.

After sending off the finished papers of her portion of the perpetual motion generator to Ushiyama, she starts pouring over the data they'd collected. It had necessitated her to write out a significantly more limited version of her Elemental Sight's magic sequence in a magic sequence storage and figure out the best way for the Third Division at FTL to make use of it for the times she couldn't spare the focus to divert to her mentally controlled Tōkōkuro Mihana droid. It also took a lot of contracts to protect the pregnant women's privacy as an unnamed statistic given the honesty the study required and the subject they needed honesty on. While it may not be their forte and they were just gathering data for her when she couldn't, Ushiyama and her other employees were starting to pick up on the trend she noticed themselves and were asking questions. It was fine of course, but while she'd answered to the best of her ability, she'd also pointed out the fact they couldn't say anything definitively until they had more data.

That being said, not a single thing she's seeing so far is even hinting at disproving the theory that had begun as a nugget of an idea in her head and was quickly blooming. If anything, all of the data they were getting was backing it up.

For that reason, even though technically it may be a bit early given the study wasn't over since they were observing the entire pregnancy of the volunteers, she was already starting to put together the data into a paper to be released. With the way things are in this world and how counter it is in general though, it may be better to have a seminar when it's time to release the information. Of course, that would require her to also put that together as well to deliver via her Tōkōkuro Mihana droid if she did go that route. Which she really wasn't a fan of the idea for, since while she may have been a member of the Wizengamot and used to that sort of thing, since she actually didn't like attention in general, she actually disliked public speaking. She could and would do it of course, but… Well, even with a fake face that can't be linked back to her, there's a reason she's never made a public appearance with her Tōkōkuro Mihana droid. Because all it would take is someone some how linking her to the droid and realizing she's the actual CAD software engineer behind it and she'd be thrust into the spotlight again.

Which would suck since she's actually been enjoying the lack of fame in this life so far.

Shaking it off, she gets back to going over the data and making a first draft of the paper on the results.

She picks up her present after she finishes getting ready, bouncing down the stairs cheerfully. It was July fourteen, which meant it was Miho's seventeenth birthday. She was honestly curious as a cat on how her wife looked without her block in the way. Also, there was the fact that arguably, if they really wanted, she and Miho would be able to do more with each other. They'd already long had the conversation in private away from Sora that they absolutely intended to keep to their mutual agreement that they didn't like the idea of beginning the physical part of their relationship when Sora was just a few months away from being able to join them.

Well, for the most part. They'd agreed on ground rules between themselves, and the most they would allow was deeper kisses and possibly some making out, but definitely not in front of Sora, since they don't want to put him through that. Which had brought Miho's guilt over the fact she went through having to watch knowing she couldn't have any part of it screaming back. She'd done her best to soothe it, but she wasn't sure how well it worked in all honesty.

She's somehow not surprised, though absolutely annoyed at the fact Yuki is trying rather hard to ensnare her attention all throughout breakfast and their cabinet ride to the station by the school. It's funny in a way, how he only ever seems to remember she's in a relationship with Miho as well as Sora and loses his hyperfocus which she's always put down to the fact he's the one who's male when it's Miho's birthday. Since he can't try to steal a birthday present idea, he always falls back on trying to steal her attention from focusing on Miho on her birthday. He often seems to hold back on certain bits of news about himself until then just to drop it to her on Miho's birthday in a quite frankly pathetic attempt to force her attention to focus on himself.

It never works, and it goes over even worse for him this year now that her mom is actually trying to curtail the behavior instead of studiously ignoring it so he doesn't get away with it at breakfast. Being Yuki though, he tries again once they're alone in the cabinet, but she'd already spoke to her mom about it so she'd have forewarning about the potential tantrum and just studiously ignores him.

Yuki, unsurprisingly, grows more and more upset the longer she ignores him. By the time they get to the cabinet station near the school and meet up with the others, he's in a foul mood, but she continues to ignore him.

At least until he cuts in on Erika teasing Miho about only having a bit over a year left until she could try to steal Sora's upcoming official marriage to her, rudely huffing out, “Or she could just find her own partner.”

Their friends, thankfully, all look appalled by the comment and Sora looks like he's genuinely weighing up the option of throwing hands with a minor even as Hoshi is staring at her brother, all but begging with her eyes that he either does it and lets her join in or let's her do it for him. Her though? She whips out the spray bottle Hoshi had gotten as a gag gift from her bag and sprays him right in the face with zero hesitation, “Bad Yuki!”

He flinches away, looking comically betrayed that she'd gone through with her previous threat and without a word he rushes off. She huffs even as Hoshi barks a laugh, “About time he had some real consequences!”

Honoka and Shizuku don't look very surprised or even sympathetic for Yuki, which is a bit surprising for the bleeding heart that is Honoka, but the rest of their friends look confused. Erika waves her hands, “Okay, could someone explain what clearly Sora, Hoshi, Miho, Shizuku, and Honoka clearly all know that Mikihiko, Mizuki, Leo, and I don't?”

Sora snorts, “I mean. Normally it's kept private since it's a delicate topic, but Toshiko told the former Student Council to make sure Yuki wouldn't end up as Student Council President since that would be an absolute disaster and gave them permission to tell the rest of the new Counsel as long as we're attending to keep him from the position. And I mean, arguably we've known you guys long enough that you probably have a right to know just in case you get caught up in any of it despite our best attempts to keep you out of it.” He glances over at her questioningly, and though she feels embarrassed even though she didn't do anything wrong, Sora isn't wrong, so with a sigh, she nods and he turns his attention back to the group as a whole, “Bluntly? Yuki isn't a joking siscon. He's legitimately in love with Toshiko.”

The others look disturbed, and Leo shakes his head in astonishment, “You're kidding me. Right? Please tell me you're kidding.”

Ever blunt, Shizuku deadpans, “Toshiko showed Mayumi-senpai and Azusa-senpai videos of her talking to him trying to get him to back off and him straight up saying he'd prefer to die in love with her and only married out of obligation with a kid produced via artificial insemination than move on, as well as more than one meltdown when he was reminded that she was in a relationship and wouldn't ever return his feelings. Azusa-senpai didn't have the original videos as proof, but she had a video of the Student Council room from when Toshiko was showing them the original videos, and you can see the screen. She showed it to us.”

The other four look a little horrified, and Hoshi leans forward from her usual spot behind her and gestures at the three of them boxing her in, “Why do you think Sora and Miho not only always take one of her sides, but I always walk behind her, and if we're sitting like at lunch, I always take the seat directly opposite? In blunt terms, he would absolutely encroach on her personal space and try to push the boundaries and take over like an invasive species in a garden if he could.”

Erika shakes her head, “But… I mean, you guys didn't do that when we first started school…”

Miho huffs, “That's because originally Toshiko was going with the approach of trying to give him a chance to have a normal sibling relationship with her and avoid the tantrums. She got fed up with it not long into our first year though and gave us the green light to start stonewalling him.”

Mikihiko's voice is a bit weak, “Is- Is that why he always seems to have some sort of weird rivalry with Sora?”

Her husband snorts, “Yeah, he tends to focus on me. We think it's because I'm the male in the relationship, so he sees me as his biggest obstacle or something. He really only seems to remember Miho in general or that she also has a relationship with Toshiko on Miho's birthday, so he always tries to wreck her birthday.”

Mizuki looks at them with furrowed brows, “That's terrible. Both that Toshiko has to deal with that, and that he's always trying to ruin Miho's birthday.”

She sighs, “Yeah, but there's not much to do about it since he refuses to give up. I've said before that he keeps pushing towards me cutting him out of my life entirely, and in all honesty, it was only after I told her such that our mom stopped studiously ignoring the problem and started trying to deal with it. No clue if she's told Yuki that, but whether she has or not, he hasn't stopped trying to push.”

Erika shakes her head, looking utterly baffled like she's struggling to wrap her head around things, “And here I thought Miki and I had family problems.” Then she huffs a strained laugh, “So, what's with the spray bottle? I mean, not that he doesn't deserve it from what you've said, but…”

Hoshi barks a laugh, “That! I originally got it for her as a gag gift and she decided that if he crossed enough of a line that she'd seriously use it if he kept up his nonsense!”

Leo gives her a confused look, “Gag gift?”

She shrugs and peels back the tape covering up the hand written ‘siscon-icide’ label long enough for them to see it and slightly hysterical laughter to spill before hiding it again. Erika grins, the label seeming to help her shake off the weird mood, “What even triggered it? The spray bottle gift I mean.”

She gives her an embarrassed look, “You remember that Ice Pillar Break match between him and Ichijou?” Erika nods, “Ichijou was trying to come onto me previously. I'd like to remind you of my Elemental Sight which means I was absolutely aware of what was being said past the barriers. Yuki was being absolutely mortifying getting all territorial like I was his girlfriend or something. Hoshi was trying to make me feel better about it is all. It was kind of just a breaking point.”

Shizuku is as deadpan as ever, “Can't really blame you.”

There's some murmurs of agreement as a couple of them look vaguely in the direction Yuki had fled with disturbed expressions. After a quiet beat, Erika shakes her head firmly, “Forget about that for now! I'm not going to let his nonsense ruin Miho's birthday!”

That gets even more agreements before the kids start determinedly ignoring the Yuki situation, at least for the time being anyway.

Another year, another Nine Schools Competition, though this time, Nakajou-senpai had invited Sora to one of the four tactical advisor slots they had available, purely with the notion that if he was capable of taking down Ichijou, then he knew what he was doing. Because yes, she'd made the general strategy, but the fact he was capable of pulling it off and also adjusting as necessary on the fly to achieve that strategy…

That being said, Miho and Hoshi weren't on any of the teams, advisor, technician, or competitor, so she and Sora are doing the same thing she'd done last year. That is, once more hanging out just outside of one of the doors to chat with Miho and Hoshi who Erika had gotten into the event hotel with their friends that aren't participating in some capacity as the welcome banquet happens beyond the door she has cracked open slightly.

Given how busy it was inside in general, she doesn't realize Shizuku is getting close until the door opens and she smiles faintly as she peeks around the corner, a slightly older boy beside her with the Kuroba twins behind him, “Thought so. Toshiko, this is my cousin Naruse Harumi. He wanted to introduce some of his first year kohai.”

Though they have good control of their expressions, Fumiya and Ayako's eyes are glittering with amusement at finding her hiding by the door to talk to the others. Given they're not supposed to know each other, they greet her like it's their first meeting, "I'm Kuroba Fumiya. Pleased to meet you, Shiba-senpai.”

Ayako nods, "Nice to meet you, I'm Kuroba Ayako. We're twins, with Fumiya being the younger. It's a pleasure, Shiba-senpai.”

She smiles at them, “Nice to meet you. I'm sure you already know this, but I'm Shiba Toshiko.” She tilts her head as though she's confused, “Though, I'm from First High, so I'm not your senpai.”

Fumiya nods, "Even if the school is different, Shiba-san is our senpai in magic."

Ayako smiles sweetly, "Although we're from Fourth high, our technical abilities aren't very good. Yet if it's okay with you, could we look to you for guidance? Both me and my brother have been very impressed by Shiba-senpai's skills."

The entire thing is just a set up so no one questions any later contact between them, and she can't help but find them a bit adorable, even as she keeps to the ruse, “As long as it isn't during the Nine Schools Competition I have nothing against it.”

Fumiya looks excited, and she's honestly not sure how much of it is faked given they've secured an excuse to meet up with her, "Really!?" 

Ayako is equally as adorably excited, "Thank you very much!”

Before anything else can be said, she spots Ichijou start to come up behind them, though it's Kichijouji that calls out, “I was wondering where First High's CAD technician genius was!”

Ichijou frowns slightly, “Why are you hanging out in the hall Toshiko?”

She shrugs and gestures at Miho and Hoshi, “A friend of ours from the Chiba managed to get them into the hotel, but she can't exactly swing invites to the banquet for them.”

Ichijou frowns, and Kichijouji jumps in, “I see. And these two are?”

She hums, “This is Yasuda Miho and Amano Hoshi.”

Ichijou's expression darkens a bit, “Amano?” He flicks a look at Sora, “A relative I assume.”

Sora nods, “My twin sister.”

Ichijou twitches slightly, “I suppose I should've guessed given not only the last name but how strange your names are in general. I mean, a last name that basically means Heaven Wild, or maybe Wild Heaven? Sure. But then to name your kid Sky and Star on top of that?”

Sora glances over lazily, “Mm. Family tradition to name kids with the sky theme from what I've been told.”

Ichijou is still a bit rude, probably still snappy because he sees Sora as a love rival, like he has any chance with her, “Well, I guess we can see who your parents' favorite is. Stars are more heavenly than the sky if you ask me.”

Sora gives him an amused look, “Hoshi was named the way she was because our parents didn't even know they were having twins because she was hidden so perfectly behind me and with the fact our heartbeats were apparently too synced up to tell them apart from one another, so they just thought I had a weirdly strong heartbeat. Add in the fact that apparently after the initial calming after being born, when the doctors went to separate us to give Hoshi a more thorough check up because they hadn't been able to monitor her health during the pregnancy, we both apparently started screaming at being separated…” He shrugs, “Our dad apparently decided her name right then and there less then an hour after our birth with the idea that ‘the sky’ can hide ‘the stars’, be it the nighttime ones or our local daytime one, and also that you can't really separate the two or something. She was named to pair with me.”

Ichijou flushes, and Kichijouji starts herding him away, “Sorry! Masaki is just in a bad mood in general, has been since this morning when his breakfast got ruined! Please don't take it personally!”

Sora huffs a laugh, “I wasn't offended to begin with.”

Ayako looks after him with a frown, before turning back to them, “Ichijou is kind of obnoxious for someone who's supposed to be from the Ten Master Clans isn't he?”

Shizuku's deadpan cuts through Sora, Miho, and Hoshi's low laughter, “He's got a crush on Toshiko and a grudge against Sora for being her fiancé and beating him last year.” She shakes her head lightly, “Anyway, we're gonna get back to the rest of the party. Enjoy your little gathering.”

They say their farewells at that, but a moment later Mikihiko pokes his head out, looking mildly confused but quickly gaining a look of understanding, “I was wondering why there was such a group over here.” Then he furrows his brows as he gazes back into the banquet hall before turning to her with concern, “Toshiko, those Fourth High students…”

She tilts her head, “What about them?”

He chews his lip, “I wasn't meaning to eavesdrop, but I know how to read lips, and I sort of did it on habit while I was watching in confusion. They introduced themselves as ‘Kuroba’ right?”

She nods, “They did. What of it?”

Mikihiko gazes at her in concern, "This is a rumor that started around spring… that there's a separate family under the Yotsuba called Kuroba. And that even amongst the subordinate branches of the Yotsuba, the Kuroba are particularly strong.”

She smiles at him, reaching over to ruffle his hair, “Don't worry. Even if it's true, I know what I'm doing.”

Mikihiko fixes his hair absently as he gazes at her in concern for another moment before nodding as he murmurs, “Okay…”

She shoos him off, “Like I said, don't worry about it Mikihiko. Go enjoy the party, alright?”

He sighs, “Okay. I'll see you later.”

She nods and they say their farewells before Mikihiko closes the door mostly, leaving it cracked open slightly as they originally had it and she turns back to the others with a shake of her head.

It's been taking everything in her not to let her pride at how well Ayako and Fumiya are doing through since they're technically opposition and it would be seen as strange. She can't help it though. The kids have come so far and gotten so good at magic.

She'll have to tell them later in private. That being said, as much as she logically knows that they'd understand why she was more blank faced if they caught her expression while she was watching their matches, she can't help but fret over them possibly taking it the wrong way.

If leaves her very tempted to reach out to them mentally, but she knows better than to risk something like that around so many people.

She'll just have to find a way to make it up to them as an apology for having to act that way. Probably a new dress with some of her rune work slipped in for Ayako since she loves that kind of stuff. Fumiya favors practicality though, so for him, given the way he's been complaining about having to cross dress recently as the Kuroba twins start being given more in person missions, maybe a Calanthe magic runic thing that creates an illusion of his female form. She'd have to make sure that much like the Polyjuice bracelets, being a different universe's magic entirely protects its magic from being affected by antinite or cast jamming, but it'd save him from his embarrassment at having to physically cross dress.

She's already absently putting together what runes she'll use as she continues to watch the competition.

She's a bit surprised to register Kyouko's Eidos pulling up and lingering in her car just outside during another meetup after school at Café Einebrise.

Knowing she can only be here to talk to her and that it's better not to rouse suspicion though, she lets the rest of the meetup play out, only subtly nudging it along so it doesn't drag out. 

As they're heading out of the Café, she glances at Kyouko's car before casually flicking a look at Hoshi as she passes where she's holding the door politely then to Yuki. Getting the message, Hoshi immediately gets to work on letting her separate from the entire group, including Yuki which Sora and Miho immediately jump in to back up without hesitation.

After she waves goodbye to them all and they leave, including the supremely unhappy Yuki, she heads over to the car and casually opens the door and slides in despite getting no message on her mobile terminal or anything like that. Kyouko smiles at her a bit tensely, “Toshiko. It's good to see you again.”

She smiles back, “Likewise Kyouko-nee. Though, I must admit I'm surprised to see you given the way Maya and Kazama made an agreement to temporarily distance ourselves from one another.”

Kyouko nods, “Yes, but new information has come to light regarding the Parasites you dealt with a while ago. We found out they got some help from inside Japan when they came over and even tracked down the identity of the culprit.” She waves her hand and some of the terminals embedded into the dashboard and blackened windows of her more customized car light up with readouts of info as well as his picture, “Zhou Gongjin, previously residing in Chinatown until police attempted a raid and tried to arrest him. As such, he's now on the run. He's highly dangerous.” She falters slightly, “Also… to some extent it's personal. I very well may have reached out on my own.”

She glances over, “Personal in what way?”

Kyouko presses her lips together, “...My grandfather was considering trying to capture some of the Parasites and see about making artificial soldiers somehow to free magicians from being used as weapons. Your destruction of them along with rooting through their minds and what that revealed both cut him off and made him realize it was a poor idea. I mean, his heart was in the right place I suppose, it was driven by a desire to break magicians away from being weapons, but…” Then she shakes her head, “Anyway, I suppose you could say I want to firmly shut anything related to the Parasites down once and for all in light of that.”

She hums, “I can understand where he's coming from, but he definitely was too hasty given the Parasites turned out to be hostile.”

Kyouko sighs, “He was intending to bind them with an Ancient Magic spell, Loyalty Programming specifically. It wasn't its original name unsurprisingly given how rare new Ancient Magic spells are, but the original name got lost at some point-” She shakes her head firmly, “Not the point. They were going to bind them with it with the idea of ensuring they could never disobey.”

She frowns, “That's slavery. And also relying on them never being able to break it.”

Kyouko nods somewhat miserably, “I know.” Then she shakes her head, “Anyway, things are in motion to request the Yotsuba's assistance in handling the situation, and while you should get the official message from Lady Yotsuba soon, Kazama okayed me getting in touch with you to give you a heads up and request that if there's any data on potentially using the Parasites as artificial soldiers to please destroy it before something like that gets out and people start getting dumb ideas. I suppose it's technically more official, but given what my grandfather almost attempted, it feels somewhat personal in all honesty.”

She nods, “Of course Kyouko-nee.

Kyouko smiles back gratefully, “Thank you Toshiko.”

She returns her smile, “Anytime Kyouko-nee.” She reaches for the door handle, “I should get going though to avoid as much chance for suspicion as possible. Have a good day Kyouko-nee.”

Kyouko nods, “You as well Toshiko.”

She climbs out of the car and isn't surprised when it starts off by the time she gets a couple steps away as she tugs her mobile terminal out of her pocket to message Maya.

Auntie

I just got visited by a shock.(1) Was likely just static buildup, but it felt like a premonition for something coming.

Maya

One should never ignore their instincts. They're often right on the money, but even if we ignore them, it's not uncommon for life to decide to follow up with more direct messengers.

I suppose that's true. How long do you think I should give life before filing a complaint that my messenger is late?

Maya

Life can sometimes take some time to figure out the details, but I'd give it just a few days before following up.

She wraps up the conversation quickly after that since she got what she was looking for. Namely, confirmation that she was indeed going to be called on as well as a timeline on how long until the official message regarding her participation should reach her before she should follow up to make sure it wasn't intercepted.

She slips her mobile terminal away before walking quickly towards the cabinet station, not to head home, but over to the Amano residence given Miho undoubtedly went there with the twins to wait for her to give them details.

Given the previous heads up, she's not very surprised when Fumiya and Ayako show up, presumably as her messengers, or by the fact they're rather tense. She'd been sitting on the couch relaxing with her mom while Yuki was upstairs doing homework when Honami had led them in, and smiles at them reassuringly, “Fumiya, Ayako, it's good to see you two.”

Fumiya's smile is a bit stiff, “Pardon the intrusion Toshiko.”

She waves him off, “Don't worry about it. I assume you're the messengers Maya mentioned would be coming?”

Ayako, originally tense like a spring, has her tension pop like a bubble at that, “You know?”

She makes a so-so gesture with her hand, “Vaguely. I received a visit from Kyouko-nee and she gave me heads up about someone called Zhou Gongjin having a hand in the Parasites getting into the country and that the police were requesting assistance from the Ten Master Clans and that I'd likely be called in. I sent Maya a coded message and got confirmation as well as was told to expect an in person delivery of the details soon.”

Fumiya blinks rapidly, “Oh…” Then he shakes himself, and holds out an envelope, “Yes, we're here to deliver a letter from Maya since she didn't want to trust digital channels.”

She nods as she accepts it, opening it and removing the letter to get the details. After reading it over, she glances up at the twins, “I assume you're aware of its contents?”

Fumiya nods, “Yes.”

She hums as she looks back down at the letter. It was a request from Maya regarding taking down Zhou Gongjin, and it was a request, since while she and Maya have a good relationship nowadays, Maya still sticks to the agreement they'd made back when she was first reinstated into the family. Namely, that no one, not even Maya, would order her to do anything given the strain between her and the majority of the family. Maya continues to keep to it despite the relationship they personally have due to the tension that still exists between her and the majority of the older generation.

Her attention is pulled back up by Fumiya's sigh, “I'm sorry Toshiko.”

She tilts her head, “Why are you apologizing?”

He bites his lip, “Originally, capturing Zhou Gongjin was a job given to the Kuroba. We haven't been able to carry it out though, and now we have to drag you into it…”

She smiles gently and undoubtedly a bit motherly at him, “Come now Fumiya, we're family. It's perfectly acceptable to ask for help when you need to, particularly from family.”

Fumiya blinks quickly for a moment before his troubled expression clears up, “You're right of course.” He shakes his head, “I guess I was just letting Father's insistence we could handle the matter ourselves get to me.”

She shakes her head with a snort, “It's funny in a way. He's all about family until his ego gets in the way.” She waves her hand near her head like she's shooing away an insect to wave off the topic, “Anyway, what's the situation so far?”

Fumiya straightens a bit, “After escaping Yokohama, Zhou Gongjin headed west by sea, apparently his escape route through the Pacific was blocked. After disembarking Zhou was cornered as he was heading north, but he ended up getting away. We believe he has slipped in somewhere in Kyoto. Our men are currently on the move and searching in the Oohara area.”

She hums, “Does he have supporters?”

"We believe he's being supported by the Traditionalists, the Ancient Magicians opposing the houses of Nine, who may have had a hand in his escape.”

She hums, “I see… I've heard about them from Master Yakumo, they're not just a group from Japan, but even foreigners that have fled from other countries as well. Last I heard, there were refugee occultists with the Kudou, but given it was originally Kyouko who reached out to me, I assume that's not a problem?”

Fumiya nods firmly, “Yes. The occultists under Kudou fled from the former Ninth Laboratory immediately after Zhou Gongjin's escape from Yokohama and have joined up with the traditionalists.”

She hums, “I figured there was something like that.” She taps the edge of the letter to the arm of the couch thoughtfully, then nods firmly, “I assume the Kuroba are doing their own investigation into where he is,” Both of the Kuroba twins nod, and she continues, “but if it's already been narrowed down to a city, then I'll leave it entirely to the Kuroba for now since there's no point waiting. However, once it gets closer to the Thesis Competition and people won't think much of it for us heading there around this time of year, I'll bring Sora, Miho, and Hoshi in to start narrowing in on him if you haven't found anything by then. Though, I must admit that I'm surprised you haven't given the training Sora gave you.”

Ayako lets out an explosive breath, “That's because Father is incompetent! I always thought he was good at his job, but after having seen Dad,” She'll probably never not feel at least a flicker of pleasure at the fact that around the same time the kids started calling her Mom, they'd easily accepted her soulmates in similarly parental roles, “in action and experienced his training, the difference in ability is glaringly obvious!”

Fumiya nods quietly adding, “Because it hasn't been that long since we started getting actual missions and they've been simpler and easier ones so far though, Father won't listen to us since he thinks we don't know what we're talking about.”

She smiles consolingly, “I know it's frustrating, but there's not a whole lot you can do about it right now. If it makes you feel any better, Sora will understand the situation and won't hold it against you.”

Fumiya peers at her, gaze full of hesitance, “Are you sure? He won't… He won't be disappointed in us?”

She shakes her head, “No, he won't. Sora will understand, I promise. You just have to deal with the frustration for now, but you don't run missions directly with Mitsugu very often, so don't let it get to you, alright?”

The twins indicate their understanding, then quickly excuse themselves and their goodbyes are wrapped up swiftly. As she watches them leave with her Elemental Sight, she notices the person that peels away and starts to follow them. Her eyes narrow. The Kuroba in general, even the twins despite their age, wouldn't miss that they're being tailed. The only explanation that makes sense is that they were ordered to ignore it.

Which arguably means that she's meant to act as bait. She doesn't mind when it comes to herself, but given things like that tend to spread to those around a target which puts the kids in danger…

She tugs her mobile terminal from her pocket.

Auntie

So, I just got a job offer. I have no reason to turn it down so I've accepted, but some of the details reminded me of pest control and my mind turned to bait. It's all well and good if you already have pests in the house, but if you don't, whoever places the bait may very well end up just bringing the pests in the house to begin with. And then things that aren't bait like the food in the kitchen can be in trouble.

Suppose there isn't much to be done about it in general, but whoever places the bait obviously needs to be ready to take responsibility for protecting other things from the pests.

Maya

How lucky for whoever is employing you, given how busy you've been lately. And oh yes, anyone who places bait needs to be responsible about protecting anything else a pest may end up going for in the house if they end up bringing them in to begin with because of the bait.

It is the responsible thing to do, yeah.

She quickly wraps up the conversation with that. Message sent that she'll do the request but the Yotsuba are responsible for making sure it doesn't pull her friends into the line of fire since they made her bait and potentially endangered them to begin with.

With that, she heads over to the group chat with her soulmates to let Sora know she may be calling on him soon, but in the meantime, the kids could use a bit of reassurance.

The buzz around the school lately has been about the upcoming Student Council President election. Most of the students seem to think Yuki will take it with ease. Too bad for them he's not even a valid choice since Shizuku's name is going to be the only one on the ballot and any write-ins will be marked as invalid.

She's glad she'd already sorted things out with the Student Council last year, given that recently Yuki seemed to realize what he could do as the Student Council President. Or more accurately, even if he hasn't admitted it, he only just recently realized he could try to use the power to force her away from Sora and Miho as well as towards him all in one go.

Erika sighs as yet another group goes by, chatting about what the Student Council will look like once Yuki takes office, “It's funny how they were so convinced and against the possibility of you being on the Student Council last year, yet are so excited for the idea of Yuki being the Student Council President when you would absolutely be his immediate first choice for who he was putting on the Council.”

She makes a negative hum, “I'd be the first person he invited. I'm under zero obligation to actually accept an invitation to join the Student Council though, so I wouldn't be on the Student Council, much less his first appointment to it. Also, Yuki is too much of a dictator who refuses to accept anything but his way in my opinion, so I'd resign from First High right then and there. Probably go over to Fourth. Those Kuroba twins I met at the Nine Schools Competition were delightful.”

Yuki doesn't say anything, but from the way the slightly longing look in his eyes that started back up when people started mentioning the Student Council presidency at lunch and him taking it immediately disappears, she can only assume he lost all interest the moment he realized he could not, if fact, use it to force the situation to be more how he wants it and more than that, him getting the position would actually drive her away from him even further.

Leo laughs, “It's true the Student Council President can't force you to join.” He ignores the ‘dictator’ and resigning comment, something most of their group has taken to since they were filled in on the problems between her and Yuki, as while they absolutely understood where she was coming from, they also knew discussing her comments was likely to set off Yuki, “And besides, if anything, I'd think you'd be the new Disciplinary Committee Chief.”

She shakes her head, “That's assuming I'm interested in the position. Which I'm not.”

Erika blinks rapidly at her, “Eh? You mean you aren't gonna be the new Disciplinary Committee Chief? …I'd have thought you were a shoe in for it.”

She shrugs, “It was brought up. I turned it down.” She glances at Mikihiko, who flushes, “The next Chief has already been decided though.”

Erika's eyes go wide, “Mikihiko's going to be the next?! Congratulations I guess but I gotta admit, I did not see that coming.”

Leo looks just as surprised, “Yeah, me neither. I mean! No offense Mikihiko! I'm sure you'll do great, just… you tend to avoid attention so much…”

Mikihiko smiles a little awkwardly, “Yeah, but while I have to admit my first choice was Toshiko myself, when she turned it down, the rest of the Disciplinary Committee convinced me that I'm the next best choice in their opinion, so….”

Mizuki peers up at him with a gentle smile, “I'm sure you'll do great.”

Mikihiko blushes faintly, “Thanks Mizuki…”

Erika pipes up again before they can get sucked into their usual romantic staring, “All that being said, I've gotta say, I'm surprised you aren't taking part in the Thesis Competition this year Toshiko.”

She shrugs, “I've got other things going on, so I'm too busy to give it the attention it should be approached with is all.”

Shizuku tilts her head, “I suppose there's no arguing with you just not having the time needed to do your part properly. Was Isori-senpai upset?”

She shakes her head, “No, he respected that I was honest about it.”

Erika snorts, “It's not surprising though, given how many people would be too immature about it all.”

She hums, “I suppose so.”

From there the conversation meanders a bit as they continue to enjoy their lunch, but nothing really snags her interest strongly.

The school was unsurprisingly shocked when it wasn't Yuki on the stage giving a speech regarding becoming the new Student Council President, nor did he come up after Shizuku is done with her speech.

Their surprise only increases when Yuki isn't even on the ballot. Plenty of them try to do write-ins for him, two hundred and fifty-seven in fact, but all that achieves is those students practically throwing their votes away.

The student body in general isn't very pleased with the fact Yuki isn't the new Student Council President, but that's only because they've been taken in as a whole by his act. It really was for the best for everyone if he wasn't the new Student Council President, and their complaints don't even have anywhere to go. The students had actually been so convinced that Yuku couldn't have lost that they actually did their own poll on who voted for who and realized that he did have the majority, but that meant nothing in light of Yuki refusing the position.

They didn't even have to bring up or acknowledge that the Student Council President was basically decided prior and the voting was just to see how much support they had since Yuki didn't even want the position in light of the prior conversation. No amount of complaining or accusations of not counting the votes properly meant anything in the face of the knowledge the person they voted for refused to take the position. And since they'd publicly announced the count, which was only a few off of the official count, presumably due to people either changing their minds or not wanting to admit to voting for someone else, and Shizuku was in second place with one hundred and ninety-three votes…

Well, there'd been a lot of upset at the realization of how many of them wasted their votes, and she has no clue if Yuki even realizes just how much popularity he lost in the wake of that, but it had certainly taken quite the hit. Not that he'd actually care. More importantly in her opinion, she still wants to know why her write-in votes may have decreased since last year, but she still somehow got one hundred and thirty-four herself. Particularly since there weren't even any deviations from what she was told. Every single vote they had was for one of the three of them.

It's absolutely ridiculous. She's just glad she managed to get the situation to a point that Yuki would not become the new Student Council President. The sheer damage he could've and likely would have done… Just thinking about it makes her shudder.

She's at home when she notices an anomaly enter the house. Turning her Elemental Sight to it, she studies it absently for a moment. It was an independent information body, similar, yet different somehow to Mikihiko's Spirits. For one thing, it's made of Psions rather than Pushions, but other than that, she can't quite put her finger on its differences. After following the line of magic back to the caster at a park about five hundred meters(2) away, she destroys the structure of the information body, causing it to dissolve back into raw Psions.

She's thinking about heading over there to catch the culprit and his companion as she eyes them, but a moment later decides to just watch to be safe after she spots the other three men encircling them. The one who'd been casting it makes a noise of utter confusion, drawing the attention of the one who seemed to be casting some sort of barrier over them to make people not pay attention to them.

Despite that though, he still whispers, “What happened?”

The other just stares at his casting mediums in confusion, “The shikigami was erased…”

His companion seems equally as unable to comprehend it, “Erased? Not reversed or stolen?”

The shikigami -from what they said anyway- caster shakes his head, “Neither, I think. The feedback from the Shikigami abruptly disappeared.”

The other man seems to almost get hysterical, “Are you saying a person in that house used an obscure Buddhist unraveling incantation?”

She feels a flicker of amusement at the fact they've misunderstood so utterly, even as the shikigami caster bursts out practically in a knee jerk fashion, “Wrong! …No, I don’t know.” He seems to start to calm down somewhat at that, though he still looks spooked, “I don’t feel the signal the spell emits. It’s the same for you, right?”

His companion nods slowly, “That, well, it’s true but… However, there shouldn’t be a way to spontaneously dissolve a shikigami without interfering with that arcane art, right? I don’t believe your control of the shikigami faltered.”

His expression turns confused once more, as his gaze turns towards the ground, “Of course not! But…”

That's about the time the noose closes entirely as one of the three of Yakumo's men surrounding them approach, getting their attention when his shadow falls over them. They start to get up, but by then it's too late as the three have already cast a spell at them and they're already rapidly slipping into unconsciousness.

Confident that they've been apprehended, she turns her attention away, finding her mom staring at her with her free hand clamped over Yuki's mouth, “Done with whatever you were concentrating on?”

She nods, and only then does her mom let go of Yuki, but she ignores that, assuming she'd done so to prevent an outburst since she had no way of knowing how critical what she was doing was, “Yeah. There were some Ancient Magicians casting a shikigami to spy on the house apparently. I destroyed it and Yakumo's men apprehended them. I was watching to make sure they wouldn't run into trouble and need assistance.”

Her mom nods, “I see. I am curious as to why they're poking around though.”

She shrugs, “It's because Maya is using me as bait for Zhou's subordinates and helpers.”

Her mom lowers her teacup, “You're certain?”

She nods, “Mm. Fumiya and Ayako were followed the other day and under orders not to shake their tail off, and I already confirmed things with Maya.” Her mom's brows furrow, but she just raises an eyebrow, “Don't look like that. Between things like my Elemental Sight and Decomposition, it's not exactly easy to hurt me to begin with, and with Regrowth, if it's not instant death, it's not like it's in any way permanent for me. If Zhou Gongjin and his followers and supporters are that dangerous, it's the wisest thing to do.”

Yuki jolts, “Why are you so calm about that?! Your safety-!”

She narrows her eyes, “Enough Yuki.” He flinches, “Given the things he's been doing, my safety, the safety of a single person in the grand scheme of things, matters little if at all.”

Yuki looks like he may cry, “But…”

She shakes her head, “But nothing. While I don't fully believe in the good of the many outweighing the few since people are far too quick to quote that without looking for alternatives and there's far too much room for it to be abused, at the end of the day, I certainly don't prioritize my own safety above who knows how many others’, especially when dealing with such fanatics. And it's nothing but pure selfishness to do so anyway.”

Yuki flinches, and her mother nods lightly in agreement when he turns to her desperately. He shoots to his feet with tears in his eyes when he realizes he has no backup for his selfish desire and runs off upstairs. Moments later his door slams.

She rolls her eyes at Yuki's dramatics. As much as she loathes the way he feels about her, she can somewhat understand his upset since she herself would be if Sora and Miho were placed in a similar situation of being endangered, but she'd respect their choice, and more importantly, she'd trust them to know what they were doing and their limits. She honestly isn't sure she'd trust her decision making if there was no way out and her soulmates’ lives were on the line though. She'll be perfectly honest about that.

On one hand, Sora and Miho would probably both prefer if she didn't pick them over innocent people's lives and inevitably live with the guilt. On the other, she's not sure she'd have the strength to pick otherwise. Is she absolutely sure she couldn't do it? No. But she wouldn't trust her own decision making skills if she was ever put in that situation.

She's waiting idly with Yuki for a cabinet to arrive, having been held up later going over some things about the security with Mikihiko, who had gotten picked up by a personal vehicle his family owned. She still found it weird that even though Mikihiko has officially taken over as the Disciplinary Committee Chief and Hattori had even already handed off the leadership of the Club Management Group it was Hattori in charge of the upcoming Thesis Competitions security. Apparently it came down to an unwritten rule that the school who won Monolith Code and specifically one of the team members from it would head up the Joint Security Forces though, which was the same reason Juumonji-senpai had been in charge last year. Though she honestly hadn't given it much thought back then since her part in the Thesis Competition itself meant they hadn't really spoken to her about security despite her being a member of the Disciplinary Committee.

Thankfully, even when cabinets aren't on standby at a station since it's not during what's been tracked as a busy time for them, there's never a long wait after you call for one. It hasn't even been two minutes since they called for one when a car shows up to the drop off area. A man climbs out, but strangely enough, the self driven car doesn't leave nor come over to the pickup area. It's not surprising given she can see someone else inside with her Elemental Sight, but while you can adjust it, usually all stops are put in when you enter the vehicle, so it should've left after dropping the first man off.

Then again, it's not all that surprising given the man still inside is watching them intently as he removes a crossbow from where he'd had it hidden.

Before he climbs out though, a wave of Psions emits from within, a chaotic messy thing with waves overlapping each other. It couldn't work as cast jamming but that's purely due to the fact that the dense cloud of Psions is held close and prevented from spreading out. If anything, given it’s dense enough that it would interfere with a normal magician's ability to sense magic, it was arguably more of a smokescreen than anything.

It doesn't really interfere with her Elemental Sight though, but it's still likely not a good thing, so she doesn't hesitate to disrupt the structure in the cloud of Psions so as to make it fall apart.

The males, both in the car and out of it, seem to grow flustered at that, but she supposes they think whoever did that is distracted given the way the one who'd climbed out tries to launch a spell at Yuki. She may have a plethora of problems with him, but she's not going to just stand there while that happens, so she uses Decomposition on that too, as well as the crossbow, making it fall apart when the man inside takes that as his cue to climb out. They both sort of panic at that and try to get back in the car, but it's easy to use Decomposition on the battery so it can't go anywhere and a shield spell on the doors to keep them from opening back to back with the battery destruction after they climb in as she casually makes her way over.

As soon as she's over there, it's all too easy to use Decomposition on one of the windows to smile mildly and the panicking duo, “Hi! Attacking people unprovoked is not only illegal but also immoral, you know?”

The men only seem to get even more freaked out by how calm and casual she is.

Given they aren't the only ones there as well as the cameras around, the police are likely already on the way though, so after using magic on some of the wires leading to the battery to fuse them together to make it seem like that was why it wouldn't move, she uses Regrowth to bring the battery back as well as Regrowthing the window, but in a down position to make it look like she just forced the window to roll down somehow. She is supposed to do her best to hide her Decomposition from most people at Maya and Kazama's request after all.

One of the men asks almost hysterically, “You weren't even using a CAD, how-?!”

She smiles at him, “I have one of those newer Thought Controlled types of CADs.”

They both choke in frustration and she leans away from the window as the police show up. Depending on how much they want to question her, it may be a while before she can get home. To that end, she pulls out her mobile terminal and sends off quick messages to her mother as well as her soulmates to let them know briefly what happened and that she's a bit tied up with the police and may take a bit to respond to messages. She also sends one off to Kyouko as her main contact point with the military in general just to give them a heads up on the situation as well as so she can fudge any video if the cameras caught the window disappearing.

After getting confirmations she puts her mobile terminal away as the police approach.

After being released by the police, she heads home with Yuki. When they arrive she explains what happened a bit more in depth then her quick message to their mother before retiring to her room for the night. She hasn't been settled on the chair in front of her terminal very long before a call comes in on it. Given who is calling, she doesn't hesitate to answer it, “Kyouko-nee, it's not like you to call this late without a good reason.”

The older woman sighs, “Yeah, it's about the men who attacked you and Yuki earlier.”

She hums, “I assume they're with the Traditionalists?”

Kyouko nods, “Yes. More specifically, it seems the guys who attacked you were an execution unit from the Traditionalists and they're involved with a monk that was exiled from the continent.” Then her face becomes a bit frustrated, “Actually, when Grandfather was looking into potentially using the Parasites as artificial soldiers to break magicians out of that role, he brought him into the Kudou family's payroll and was consulting with him. He fled and joined the Traditionalists when the project was canceled. Though, I must admit, it's a bit surprising to have come across him…”

She hums, “Which implies he was only ever after the Parasites, and possibly to make trouble… In which case, it's not surprising he'd be working with the man who helped them get into the country and be trying to get rid of anyone in the way of sheltering him.”

Kyouko sighs, “You aren't wrong about that…” She shakes her head, “They invited a magician with a high potential of becoming an enemy, instilled him with fear to do their covert operations, and now they let him escape… Additionally, he was an accomplice to an attack on civilians, and minors at that. I wonder what the hell the Kudou clan was thinking doing this.”

She snorts, “Ensuring compliance through fear huh? Sounds less like what you'd expect from a different Ten Master Clan and more like the Yotsuba since that's one of their favorite tactics.”

Kyouko nods unhappily. Then she shakes her head, and combs her hand through her hair somewhat nervously, “Also, I had to apologize for another matter.”

Toshiko blinks rapidly, “Why?”

Kyouko sighs, “Regarding today's attack…” Her brows furrow and she's quiet a beat, “To sum up, the 101 unit cannot intervene on this case. Needless to say, the Independent Magic Battalion cannot provide you any help.” Her expression twists bitterly, “Sorry Toshiko. We have only taken advantage of you when we needed you, but we cannot provide the help you need at critical times.”

She shakes her head, “Don't trouble yourself over it Kyouko-nee. On the contrary, you've assisted me many times. There's not much you can do if circumstances mean you can't really act anyway.”

Kyouko's expression remains troubled, “Except that the situation is different from before. The previous times we've helped, it's always been as backup while you were cleaning something else up. This time you yourself are being targeted.”

She shakes her head, “That is neither yours nor Kazama's fault Kyouko-nee.”

Kyouko looks down unhappily, “Still…” Then she looks up, “Couldn't you ask for help from Yakumo?”

She sighs, “I spoke to Master the other day about making sure this mess doesn't spill over to my friends and drag them into the crossfire, but I can't really ask him to assist me personally. There's far too much possibility for things to get out of hand. Master has strong ties to the military and the Ten Master Clans, including the Kudou. The Traditionalists we're dealing with are obviously traitors if they're from Japan and saboteurs otherwise, but they're currently keeping their attacks contained. They need to be dealt with before they escalate obviously, but one wrong move from one of Master's disciples could escalate the situation, setting it off like a powder keg and pulling innocent people into the line of fire.” Kyouko doesn't look happy, but she also can't dispute her. She shakes her head and pushes on, “The safety of innocent people is more important, but doing so could also chase off whoever is behind Zhou Gongjin as well.”

Kyouko stills, “You think there's a different mastermind than him?”

She nods, “I believe so.” She shakes her head, “Things just… line up too well otherwise.” Kyouko gets lost in thought at that but she continues after a beat, “I have no clue if whatever whoever is behind all this is planning is about to reach its peak or not, but we have to tread carefully.”

Kyouko nods her understanding, though she still seems a bit upset that Toshiko won't have either the 101st or Yakumo to fall back on. Part of her wants to reassure her that she has Sora, Miho, and Hoshi for backup, but given even Kyouko and the 101st don't truly know what the twins are capable of or just what sort of information Miho is capable of digging up, it likely would backfire since she would end up worried that Toshiko considers them appropriate reinforcements despite the stakes.

They say their goodbyes after that and she sighs at having to leave Kyouko worrying about her. There's little she can do about it though. About the only thing she can do to help ease Kyouko's mind is try to wrap this up quickly.